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AoC impressions from a WAR fanboi...
Deathstiny
Member Posts: 386
Alright so I've been a WAR fanboi for quite some time and I've been bashing AoC on numerous occasions on these boards (see my posting history if you have any doubts). I didn't bash AoC because I knew anything bad about it (I was not in BETA). I simply wanted MY game (WAR) to "win". I know that is not a mature reason but I'm sure many here can relate and I wanted everybody to understand from what perspective I'm writing this. Further info: I am currently in WAR Beta but won't compare AoC to WAR as I'm respecting the NDA.
My computer: Dell XPS 630 - Quad core 6600 - 4gigs DDR2 - Gforce 8800 GT 512mb - Windows Vista Premium 32bit. That system currently retails for about $1200 to $1400 depending on some options.
Alright, so Funcom huh? Ouch I was there for Anarchy Online Launch so I was prepared for uglyness. But I was bored and since I pretty much buy every single MMO that comes out I figured meh! May as well give the competition a try so I can "bash with experience".
I was not prepared for this. First of all the game looked absolutely amazing. And I don't mean just "good". I mean generations ahead of its time. And the fact that my system runs it anywhere between 40-80fps (city vs. outdoor) on MAX settings is a blessing.
Alright, so I didn't hate the graphics. Big deal, the servers will probably crash every few minutes and there will be hours upon hours of downtime right? WRONG! The servers have been up almost permanently (one 5 hour downtime exception that bothered me). For a release that is quite a feat. Of course I may just be lucky and servers are only up when I'm playing but considering I'm playing a lot I can safely say it's been a smooth lauch (as smooth as launches go).
Alright, so the game looks great and is stable. Surely there must be tons of broken quests. Wrong again! I've done dozens of quests and they are working just fine. Plus many of them are actually quite entertaining and tell a great story.
But the community is full of tards right? "Sadly" no. OOC is the new barrens chat but other than that I have met lots of great people already. The player base is defintely more mature than WoW and that's great news all around.
How about the classes? All crap right? I've tried 9 out of the 12 classes so far and besides the Dark Templar I like em all. WoW a priest that nukes so he can heal better? What a great concept. You mean I'm no longer forced to spam 1 button and play healbot? Who would have thunk? Seriously the classes are great. Sure some balancing is required but honestly WoW has been out for what 3 years and classes need balancing. Or hey! Ask an EQ1 wizzy (9 years game life) how their class balance is compared to zerker and rogue dps on raids. Yeah, Funcom is doing alright ....ack can't believe I said that. BLASPHEMY!
Alright, well combat must really suck then right? Well, you probably have guessed by now how this review is going. Sorry! I will NEVER EVER play and autoattack MMO again. Combat rocks! After level 10 a whole new world opens up and boy oh boy I can't believe we played MMOs the way we have all these years.
Okay, I'm not going to bore you much longer. I just need to say a couple mroe things. First of all a big sorry to my previous attitude towards the game. A big congratulations to Funcom. AoC will be my MMO for years to come. THQs WH40K is the only thing on the horizon right now and that's at least 3-4 years away.
As for WAR. I won't be playing it. I'll keep testing it here and there and fullfill my duties as a beta tester and I do hope it will do well as I like the license but my home is now Hyboria.
I can't believe I'm about to say the following but ... THANK YOU FUNCOM !!!
Comments
im happy you like it
People who have to create conspiracy and hate threads to further a cause lacks in intellectual comprehension of diversity.
Seems pretty typical of the initial impression of the game. By level 40 more people are a lot less optimistic about things so make sure to post back then and see if things have changed for you.
I plan on sticking with it to 80 but right now I think it is more of a stopgap until WAR and not a replacement. Things can change in 6 months though.
I too am a WAR fan. In fact I had really only heard of AoC a few months ago, But when WAR got delayed again and Being so bored with killing Illidan (WoW) over and over I had to try something different this summer. I've rekindled the inner hard core gamer in me With the purchase of AoC I just hope the endgame content is there to keep me going once I reach 80. Only time will tell
nice review. Its nice to see someone admit when they are wrong, its not that common on these forums.
The genre needs the likes of Warhammer and AoC to do well. They don't need to be huge successes but merely to recoup their dev costs and make a profit so that the small incremental innovations we see in both games continue in future games. Funcom and Mythic are both decent and respectable developers (even if they're PR depts 'gild the lilly' from time to time) and both are responsible for two truly innovative and memorable MMO's in the past.
Having played to level 40ish I have to 100% disagree with the poster his standards must be low.
Graphics Excelent
Single player storyline (Good)
Gameplay (Poor)
Longevity (Poor)
Combat too fast for any tactics button mashing as normal.(Poor) Little skill
Quests linear and simplistic zero challenge(Poor)
World size has to class as Small and totally instanced(Poor) no massive about this.
Community and requirement to develop community zero(Poor) Raid and guild endgame just an arena.
Mimics a single player game linear to the point it again has no challenge and nothing to explore.
A waste of invested time as there can be no sense of acheivment here, for people who have too much time or value their own very little.
Very very dissapointing
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Sorcery must persist, the future is the Citadel
That was one of the most impressive reviews of what AoC offers yet. I like that you went in as a skeptic but the things you saw were beyond doubting impressive to you. I too have been blown away by this game and though I was hyped about it, the way beta performed for me (no textures loading in detail, no view distance, crashes repeatedly, glitches, etc) I was more than a little worried, boy was I wrong about my fears! Flawless stuff, graphics are intensely good and the combat has made all my best mmo experiences dull a bit simply because of how well done it is and involved you get being a combatant. Long live Hyboria!
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'Cry Havoc, and Let Loose the Dogs of WARRRRR!!!'
Same damn thing happened to me. I love it and I won't be playing WAR. RVR is way too safe compared to FFA PvP.
AoC is one hell of MMO.
And I talk to many people in game who love it. People in guild are always bringing up "oh sh*t that was awesome" moments on vent. Don't remember that happening in another MMO I played.
Having played to level 40ish I have to 100% disagree with the poster his standards must be low.
Graphics Excelent
Single player storyline (Good)
Gameplay (Poor)
Longevity (Poor)
Combat too fast for any tactics button mashing as normal.(Poor) Little skill
Quests linear and simplistic zero challenge(Poor)
World size has to class as Small and totally instanced(Poor) no massive about this.
Community and requirement to develop community zero(Poor) Raid and guild endgame just an arena.
Mimics a single player game linear to the point it again has no challenge and nothing to explore.
A waste of invested time as there can be no sense of acheivment here, for people who have too much time or value their own very little.
Very very dissapointing
Wrong.
I have not reached the point where I can say i will not play WAR yet, I doubt that will ever happen since I like to try new games.But talking about "oh sh*t that was awesome" moments when my assassin spun his dagger around in his hand twice and rammed it thru the mobs throat spewing blood everywhere everyone in my group and in my vent channel basicly said yelling "damn that was prolly the most bad ass killing blow ive ever scene in a game".
lol good times! go go AoC
I am a war fan myself but, I am enjoying my time in AoC. The game is far far far from perfect. It has alot of issues / bugs that have to potential to drive many people away.
They have a good base to work with. The game needs alot of work. They have about 6 months to fix these issues or I forsee a huge exodus to War.
I have no experience with Funcom (thats a stupid name btw) so I dont have any expectations, good or bad.
The game is a nice change from WoW, which I stopped playing about 3 months ago. I am very glad I have somthing different to experience. I love the PvP server. There are the MORON spawn campers but other than that it is pretty damn fun.
I dont think you have to be completely on one side or the other. The game is OK. It can be fun with the right mind set. I am having fun and I am still excited for War release.
im glad you enjoy it, and i agree with you on everything. I would just like to add that after tortage i have found about 4-7 broken quests, not a big deal but it has slowed down my leveling. And Funcom has fixed 2 of the quests on my list so they seem to be on top of things.
Playing: EVE Online
Favorite MMOs: WoW, SWG Pre-cu, Lineage 2, UO, EQ, EVE online
Looking forward to: Archeage, Kingdom Under Fire 2
KUF2's Official Website - http://www.kufii.com/ENG/ -
very good post, OP. Glad you are enjoying the game.
Personally, the further I get into the game, and the more I discover, the better it gets, and the more I want to play.
Real Life is in trouble
Haha! Join the club. I was worried after the fileplanet open beta but I also changed my mind and haven't looked back.
Well I am lvl 42 now and enjoying the game a great deal more than I did in Tortage.
Combat becomes more and more skill based as you level up because mashing buttons just kills you now.
Tarantia Noble district has very fun quest that are different and you can do other stuff too from the quests. I have become a pit fighter in the undeground arena and I have been getting on roofs and stolen treasure. There are even investigation quests where you actually have to think and solve puzzles to get the quests done.
Its the first mmo I have seen with serious city adventuring and that is something the genre has sourly missed.
I am also getting very happy with the instancing. The 48 number i just a stupid rumor and a zone can very easily get crowded so its nice you can jump instance so you can get quests done instead of having to fight the 30 other people who try to get it done too.
"You are the hero our legends have foretold will save our tribe, therefore please go kill 10 pigs."
Come back in a few months after you've hit their endgame for awhile and say the same thing. Right now you're just high off the newness of it. From what I hear, AoC is heavily instanced and that just turns into a boring treadmill after awhile. I think you'll end up playing WAR since you'll be thouroughly bored with AoC by then. AoC's endgame doesn't look very promising.
You may be right, but it's a bit early to tell. I'll keep a positive disposition until I am disappointed by the game.
It's way to early for you doomsayers to say it has no end-game content. Everything still needs balancing, just like EVERY other MMO, and I'm quite confident that this game has as least as much end-game content as WoW when it was launched.
About the server didnt crash...its impossible to crash...the game is made of instances all over..so there is never an overload of people...
The only reviews that matter are the ones who previously loved the game and now hate it, or vice verca. This is not the 1rst positive review a previous basher writes, though I have yet to see a negative review from a fan.
Nice review.
Hmm, I'm betting you are no later in level than 20ish.
I hit 50 yesterday, and it's getting old, fast. Highly instanced is a big disappointment, and exploration is nil. No hidden caves/dungeons off the beaten track etc.
Large holes in quest progression require grinding sessions, and itemisation is the worst I've seen in an MMO.
The graphics are very nice when they aren't stuttering, but the world feels tiny. I started with high hopes, but already I'm worried for the game.
Time will tell.
Having played to level 40ish I have to 100% disagree with the poster his standards must be low.
Graphics Excelent
Single player storyline (Good)
Gameplay (Poor)
Longevity (Poor)
Combat too fast for any tactics button mashing as normal.(Poor) Little skill
Quests linear and simplistic zero challenge(Poor)
World size has to class as Small and totally instanced(Poor) no massive about this.
Community and requirement to develop community zero(Poor) Raid and guild endgame just an arena.
Mimics a single player game linear to the point it again has no challenge and nothing to explore.
A waste of invested time as there can be no sense of acheivment here, for people who have too much time or value their own very little.
Very very dissapointing
Wrong.
Nice to see you call someone wrong and care to back up your critisism on his opinion with facts. Go back to playing and keep off these forums troll
Nice review but Tittle is fishy....
I am not thinkin of trying Conan as i am very happy in game i am curently playing :]] if u want to know what game is that just click on my name
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Holy Flamin' Frost-Brand Gronk-Slayin' Vorpal Hammer o' Woundin' an' Returnin' an' Shootin'-Lightnin'-Out-Yer-Bum!! ~Planescape: Torment~
Typical Fanboi
Religiously flaming for WAR , and than it takes him 10 levels of AOC to decide its the best MMO in the world , that he will play for next 5 years and completely FORGO WAR
Wait until you reach lvl 40 and find out about peanut sized zones , and lack of content....
Good luck keeping playing that for 5 years
Wow! That surreal and mind boggling.
For the current naysayers I can see your trenches has been withdrawn yet another line. When do you accept a defeat? I mean seriously, when? I've ran out of count on how many objections you've touted as fact only to see for myself it's complete and utter bullshit in real life. "Oh no the game runs like shit", "Oh no with Funcom's track record the release will fail miserably", "Oh no the zones are tiny" and so on and so forth. As time progresses and people sees for themselves that you're talking bull you just generate new "facts" for something people can't experience themselves for the moment. Now it's end-game content. I feel sorry for you when people are hitting 80 by the numbers. Then they'll see for themselves your "supposed" facts.
Fact is; AoC has many more end-game dungeons than it's competition like for instance WoW and LoTRO had in their launches. AoC has been in development for over 5 years. It isn't rushed. Fact is that Funcom's in-house play testers has been sieging each other for years. Hell even people on this board has seen that feature. Are you guys saying they just lowered the population cap to 48x48 for something that doesn't exist? Really?
Yeah you can call me a fanboi, but do you know what? Being a AoC fanboi sure as hell isn't being lonely these days. And good on you Deathstiny for admitting you were wrong. That takes it's man - or woman.